Article by: Steven Ryzewski | Orlando Business Journal | To view the original article, click here.
One of the nation’s largest homebuilders is ramping up plans for a big development near Orlando International Airport on land it will buy from the city.
A pair of requests made to the city in late December on behalf of Atlanta-based Beazer Homes LLC include asking for approval of a planned development framework for 549 homes in the city’s Southport area, just west of the airport, as well as for approval of plans for the project’s first phase.
The long-awaited project would rise on 126 acres the homebuilder is under contract to buy from the city for $3 million. The property is the former home of the Orlando Naval Training Center McCoy Annex.
The first phase is expected to include 145 townhomes and 25 bungalows, for a total of 170 residential units. The requests are expected to go before Orlando’s municipal planning board in February.
Executives for Beazer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
However, a memo by the Orlando office of Jacksonville-based consulting firm England-Thims & Miller Inc. outlines the broad strokes of how the development will proceed as far as its phasing.
Following first phase, the second phase will feature 39 townhomes and 43 bungalows for a total of 82 homes. The third phase will have 119 townhomes with 33 bungalows for a total of 152 homes, and the fourth and final phase will include 111 townhomes with 34 bungalows for a total of 145 homes.
Townhomes in Beazer’s project will feature both attached and detached garages. In addition, 40 of the townhomes will be sold to the city of Orlando at cost as part of the purchase agreement, so the city can offer them to low-income buyers.
The to-be-sold assemblage also includes an Orlando Fire Department station, the land for which will be leased back to the city.
The plans for more than 500 homes come as metro Orlando is predicted to be one of the 10 hottest major housing markets in 2024, according to Zillow.